dpa
Munich
Jamie Leweling starred in his maiden Germany cap by scoring the 1-0 winner against the Netherlands on Monday which sent his team into the Nations League quarter-finals with two games to spare.
VfB Stuttgart’s Leweling smashed into the top right corner in the 64th minute, after having a early goal disallowed for offside.
Leweling was picked by coach Julian Nagelsmann only after Jamal Musiala had to withdraw from the squad injured and was a starter because Deniz Undav was not fully fit.
The Germans claimed an overall deserved victory over their long-time rivals whose Xavi Simonns was denied by the top of the crossbar.
Germany top Group A3 with 10 points from four matches and are assured of a top two finish and a quarter-final berth ahead of the final two matchdays in November. The Dutch and Hungary have five points each and Bosnia-Herzegovina one.
Nagelsmann praises Leweling and team "We won as a team. I scored the goal for 1-0. we defended well and I was happy to help,” Leweling told broadcasters ZDF.
Nagelsmannn said about Leweling: "I didn’t expect him to play that well. He had a great game. The greed to win was great. The first half was exceptionally good.
We didn’t allow a lot and it was a absolutely deserved victory. We have the ambition to win the remaining games as well,” Nagelsmann added.
Goalkeeper Oliver Baumann and Leweling won their maiden cap, and Angelo Stiller was a starter for the first time along with Aleksandar Pavlovic in midfield for the injury-plagued Germans who won 2-1 in Bosnia on Friday.
Dutch coach Ronald Koeman replaced suspended captain Virgil van Dijk with Jorrel Hato and fielded Brian Brobbey up front for Joshua Zirkzee after a 1-1 draw in Hungary.
The match kicked off after a farewell for the retired Germany quartet of Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer and Ilkay Gündogan, and a minute of applause for former Germany goalkeeper Dieter Burdenski and Netherlands great Johan Neeskens who recently died at age 73.
Germany dominate, unlucky Leweling Leweling appeared to have a dream start into his national team career when his deflected shot went into the bottom left corner less than two minutes into the game but Serge Gnabry was deemed to have been offside in the build-up after a long review.
Germany dominated and Leweling came close again in the 28th when his goal-bound shot was cleared by captain Stefan de Vrij. Antonio Rüdiger headed into the arms of goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen a minute later.
Dutch improve but Leweling scores The visitors improved after the break but rarely threatened, not as dangerous as in the 2-2 draw from last month’s reverse fixture.
Germany eventually took the lead shortly after the hour mark when the ball fell to Leweling after a corner kick to fire high ito the net.
The Dutch fought back as Xavi Simons hit the top of the crossbar in the 76th minute and Baumann was forced to a first big save against Donyell Malen late on.
In-between, a deflected shot from Maximilian Mittelstädt went narrowly wide at the other end.